Wireless communication systems are commonly employed to provide voice and data communications to a plurality of subscribers within a prescribed geographic area. For example, analog cellular radiotelephone systems, such as those designated AMPS, ETACS, NMT-450, and NMT-900, have been deployed successfully throughout the world. Recently, digital cellular radiotelephone systems such as those designated IS-54B (and its successor IS-136) in North America and GSM in Europe have been introduced and are currently being deployed. These systems, and others, are described, for example, in the book entitled Cellular Radio Systems, by Balston, et al., published by Artech House, Norwood, Mass. (1993). In addition to the above systems, an evolving system referred to as personal communication services (PCS) is being implemented. Examples of current PCS systems include those designated IS-95, PCS-1900, and PACS in North America, DCS-1800 and DECT in Europe, and PHS in Japan. These PCS systems operate around the 2 gigahertz (GHz) band of the radio spectrum, and are typically being used for voice and high bit-rate data communications.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional terrestrial wireless communication system 20 that may implement any one of the aforementioned wireless communications standards. The wireless system may include one or more wireless mobile terminals 22 that communicate with a plurality of cells 24 served by base stations 26 and a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) 28. Although only three cells 24 are shown in FIG. 1, a typical cellular radiotelephone network may comprise hundreds of cells, and may include more than one MTSO 28 and may serve thousands of wireless mobile terminals 22.
The cells 24 generally serve as nodes in the communication system 20, from which links are established between wireless mobile terminals 22 and a MTSO 28, by way of the base stations 26 servicing the cells 24. Each cell 24 will have allocated to it one or more dedicated control channels and one or more traffic channels. The control channel is a dedicated channel used for transmitting cell identification and paging information. The traffic channels carry the voice and data information. Through the communication system 20, a duplex radio communication link 30 may be effected between two wireless mobile terminals 22 or between a wireless mobile terminal 22 and a landline telephone user 32 via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 34. The function of the base station 26 is commonly to handle the radio communications between the cell 24 and the wireless mobile terminal 22. In this capacity, the base station 26 functions chiefly as a relay station for data and voice signals.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional celestial wireless communication system 120. The celestial wireless communication system 120 may be employed to perform similar functions to those performed by the conventional terrestrial wireless communication system 20 of FIG. 1. In particular, the celestial wireless communication system 120 typically includes one or more satellites 126 that serve as relays or transponders between one or more earth stations 127 and satellite wireless mobile terminals 122. The satellite 126 communicates with the satellite wireless mobile terminals 122 and earth stations 127 via duplex communication links 130. Each earth station 127 may in turn be connected to a PSTN 132, allowing communications between the wireless mobile terminals 122, and communications between the wireless mobile terminals 122 and conventional terrestrial wireless mobile terminals 22 (FIG. 1) or landline telephones 32 (FIG. 1).
The celestial wireless communication system 120 may utilize a single antenna beam covering the entire area served by the system, or as shown in FIG. 2, the celestial wireless communication system 120 may be designed such that it produces multiple, minimally-overlapping beams 134, each serving a distinct geographical coverage area 136 within the system's service region. A satellite 126 and coverage area 136 serve a function similar to that of a base station 26 and cell 24, respectively, of the terrestrial wireless communication system 20.
Thus, the celestial wireless communication system 120 may be employed to perform similar functions to those performed by conventional terrestrial wireless communication systems. In particular, a celestial radiotelephone communication system 120 has particular application in areas where the population is sparsely distributed over a large geographic area or where rugged topography tends to make conventional landline telephone or terrestrial wireless infrastructure technically or economically impractical.
As the wireless communication industry continues to advance, other technologies will most likely be integrated within these communication systems in order to provide value-added services. One such technology being considered is a global positioning system (GPS). Therefore, it would be desirable to have a wireless mobile terminal with a GPS receiver integrated therein.